Garment supporting device



Oct. 31, 1961 A. OWEN ET AL GARMENT SUPPORTING DEVICE Filed Dec. 16,1957 m d w 2cm N n a mw 0.6 n 7.2 a l a in N. m

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,005,990 GARMENT SUPPORTING DEVICE HaroldA. Owen and Elizabeth C. Clark, Dover, Del., assignors to InternationalLatex Corporation, Playtex Park, Dover, Del., a corporation of DelawareFiled Dec. 16, 1957, Ser. No. 702,837 1 Claim. (Cl. 2306) This inventionrelates to a body-encircling undergarment for supporting stockings andthe like. More particularly, this invention relates to a supportingundergarment having an adjustable pendent garter strap with a stockinggrip or fastener at each end thereof, the garter strap being attached tothe undergarment so that one stocking grip moves in an oppositedirection from the other stocking grip in a reciprocative manner duringmotion of the lower limbs of the body of the wearer to equalize thestress and strain on the stocking and the garment.

Many types of body-encircling garments have been made with loopedpendent garter straps, but these have had the disadvantage of beingsupported by an additional pendent strap which is attached at the top tothe garment and at the bottom to the looped garter strap by varioustypes of metal devices. Such a three-piece arrangement results in acumbersome and ineflective method of supporting the stocking of themodern woman because reciprocation is below the. hip region, therebyresulting in loss of control and effectiveness of support. The metaldevices at the bottom of the strap attached to the garment pressuncomfortably against the skin of the wearer while the looped garterstrap tends to chafe the skin during any reciprocative motion thereof.

The present invention is directed to an improved bodyencirclingsupporting undergarment, such as a garter belt and the like, in which alooped pendent garter strap having a stocking grip or attachment at eachend thereof is slidably connected to each hip portion of the garment toallow for reciprocation of each section of the looped pendent strap sothat as tension is applied to one end, it lengthens and the other endshortens in compensation thereto. Means for shortening or lengtheningthe total length of the strap is provided on the strap to effect thedesired adjustment for the wearer. The pivoting and looping action ofthe pendent garter strap in the hip section of the garment, whichsection may be substantially triangular in shape, results in the hiphugging members in the belt-like construction being capable of holdingthe loop of the strap so that movement by the lower limbs of the bodyautomatically effects adjustment as the garter strap slides through agrommet or pendent supporting bar arrangement to shorten one sidethereof while the other side is lengthened. By this arrangement, a morecomfortable attachment and support of the stocking can be made whichutilizes the hugging of the hips to effectively hold the garment inplace.

Additionally, the looped garter strap construction of the garment ofthis invention may be provided with a simply and easily adjusted meansof arrangement for the garter strap by providing a shortening means,such as a clamp, within the garter strap so that the total length of thegarter strap can be shortened or lengthened.

The looped garter strap of the garment of this invention may be attachedeasily to the stocking; for example, by lengthening one end of thestrap, the garter may be fastened without pull or strain to the back ofthe stocking, and then the other end of the looped strap may be broughtforward, the strap sliding through the grommet, to make the front garterattachment, which is more accessible than the back.

It will be appreciated that these and other desirable effects areachieved by the garment construction of the 3,005,990 Patented Oct. 31,19.61

embodiments of the present invention, it being understood that suchembodiments are shown by way of illustration only, in which drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a view in elevation of a garter belt showing hip huggingsections having positioned therein an adjustable looped pendent garterstrap in the bottom marginal edge of each section;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary view of the hip section of the garter beltshown in FIGURE 1 showing the grom met attachment sewn to the bottommarginal edge of the hip section of the garment and the grommet bararrangement over which the adjustable looped garter strap slides;

FIGURE 3 is a view in elevation of the grommet for holding the slidablelooped pendent garter strap showing the framework thereof and thegrommet bar over which the garter strap slides; and

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary view of the grommet attachment showing thesliding adjustable looped garter strap in position to slide over thegrommet.

In the drawings, FIGURE 1 illustrates a garter belt 10 having adecorative front panel 11. Attached to each vertical marginal edge offront panel 11 (such as by sewing) is a hip hugging section 12 havingdownwardly depending section 13 which terminates in a point to form atriangularly shaped section for covering the hip region of the body.Sewn to the back vertical marginal edge 14 of one of the side panels 12is an elastic band 15, stretchable in the girth-wise direction, havingattached thereto a small band 16 with vertically disposed rows of eyes17. Attached to the back vertical marginal edge of the other side panel12 is a vertically disposed group of hooks 18 adapted to fit in lockingengagement with eyes 17 to form a girth-wise eXtendable body-encirclingband with sections 12 hugging the hips when the garment is positioned onthe body of the wearer.

The lower portion of the bottom marginal edge of each section 13 hasattached thereto a grommet indicated generally as 19, such as by sewingthe top bar of the grommet to the margin of the garment. The grommet 19has a substantially horizontal bar 20 which, with the grommet frame,defines an opening 21. Through the opening 21 in sliding arrangementwith bar 20 is positioned an elastic garter strap 22 indicated generallyas 22 and having sections 23 and 24 depending from grommet 19, eachsection having secured at the end thereof a stocking grip, fastener orattachment 25, which may be of the type standardly used to firmly gripand hold, without tensing, an upper portion of a stocking. The strap 22has a length adjusting clamp 26 for controlling the total length of thestrap to make each length of the looped garter strap accommodate theparticular needs of the wearer. Attached to the body-encircling garmenton the inside of the top and bottom marginal edges of the front and sidesections is an inelastic binding strip 27 which provides an edging andfinish to the top and bottom of the garment.

The adjustable looped pendent garter strap 22 is so positioned that,when the garter belt is arranged on the body of the wearer, the grommetslie substantially vertically in line with the hips of the wearer. Inthis position, each downwardly extending section 23 or 24 of the loopedgarter strap is free to be positioned around the leg of the wearer andfastened to the stocking by the attachment at the end thereof. The strapthen is in a position to adjust by sliding through the grommet tolengthen one end of the strap with compensating shortening of the otherend. To make the desired attachment to the stocking, one of the strap isattached to the back of the stocking and the other end of the strappulled into position and attached to the front of the stocking or viceversa.

This strap arrangement provides a criss-cross garter attachmentangularly pivoting from the hip section of the garment to allow for theshortening of one section of the. strap with the simultaneouslengthening of the other section thereof in a compensating manner asmovement of the limbs require. This stocking support arrangement alsoplaces the points of stress and movement thereof on the garment at thehip section where the motion of the point of pivoting relative to motionof the body is minimized. Such positioning provides a relative 1y fixedfulcrum point even when the adjustable looped garter strap see-saws backand forth during motions of the body. Also, because of scissor-likeaction of the strap, attachment of the garter may be made at variouspoints on the stockings as desired by the wearer.

Although the present invention has been described with particularitywith reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be obvious to thoseskilled in the art, after understanding the invention, that variouschanges and modifications may be made therein without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention, and the appended claim shouldtherefore be interpreted to cover such changes and modifications.

What we claim is:

A stocking-supporting garment comprising a body encircling band having awaistline and an edge spaced therebelow and including a front bodypanel, a rear elastic band and a pair of hip-hugging sections, the frontportion of the edge being concave and terminating in flattened endportions and adapted to extend completely across the front of thegarment from one hip to the other; a grommet in the lower edge of eachsaid hiphugging section substantially at the lowest point, each grommethaving a slidable surface fixed in substantially horizontal position;and a pendent looped garter strap slidably mounted in said grommethaving a front stocking attaching means secured to the one free end anda back stocking attaching means secured to the other free end thereof,whereby movement of the body of the wearer permits the garter strap toslide over said slidable surface of the grommet to maintain continuousadjustment tensioning between the front and back attaching means forcontrol of the stocking and to maintain the hip-hugging sections firmlyin place against the body.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS772,021 Bowen Oct. 11, 1904 1,814,511 Hebner s July 14, 1931 1,816,656Schweizer July 28, 1931 2,245,556 Ellison June 17, 1941 2,424,251 MortonJuly 22, 1947 2,529,074 Cooley Nov. 7, 1950 2,530,850 Atchley Nov. 21,1950 2,619,645 Blatt Dec. 2, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 131,731 Austria Feb.10, 1933 63,681 Denmark July 9, 1945 535,991 Canada Ian. 22, 1957

